Weekly Weird News for 11 November 2022

Hey everyone! I’m in a particularly ebullient mood this week. I’ve been avoiding Twitter. I haven’t lost my verified check on Twitter yet but that will happen at any moment and I’m not going to pay to stay relevant in that… dumpster fire. 

It’s pretty bad there. Important stuff is aflame and the workers are smoldering. Lock down your accounts and delete any incriminating data! But it’s time to stop worrying about social reach and just bring the fun to people who are interested enough to subscribe to my little odd dispatches every week. And if you aren’t subscribed? What’s keeping you?! It’s free and it’s awesome.

I spent the week building a new local social network on the Mastodon platform. Join me over at Mastodon if you are so inclined. I’ve been posting most of the stories seen here early on there. And more neat stuff, like pics of my arch nemesis yard squirrel. https://mstdn.social/@idoubtit  Use this invite https://mstdn.social/invite/3FvPx4NA

Or just follow the RSS feed in your reader of choice. Easy Peezy. https://mstdn.social/@idoubtit.rss

Now onto the Weird News entrees for this edition.

HypnoToadsicle

If Mike Tyson told you to lick a toad, would you do it? It’s not worth it to experience the high of toxins in the Sonoran desert toad. Don’t be a total dumbass like him or the other people giving it a try. The National Park Service warned everyone this week that the hallucinogenic toxin they secrete is poisonous.  https://www.npr.org/2022/11/06/1134615997/the-national-park-service-wants-humans-to-stop-licking-this-toad

A trip to Haunted Grift-a-palooza

Religion researchers Eric Harrelson and Joe Laycock visited Paracon where they found huge crowds and corporate paranormalia spoon-fed to the gullible. The major draw of the convention that celebrates the work of paranormal hucksters Ed and Lorraine Warren was the Annabelle doll - the subject of 3 highly fictionalized films. So, the atmosphere of occult marketing continued on brand, organized by the Warren’s son-in-law. The event featured “paradoxical bricolages of beliefs and practices” that make no sense other than to draw gawkers who pay to be close to paranormal paraphernalia. https://religiondispatches.org/paranormal-vodka-exorcists-and-a-demonic-doll-welcome-to-paracon-based-on-the-work-of-the-demon-hunters-who-inspired-the-conjuring-series/

Fireball suspected as cause of fire

A lucky or unlucky guy, depending on your perspective, experienced a loud bang and house fire of unknown origin in northern California. There was major damage and some of his pets died. Later, the man and police were informed that they saw a bright fireball land in this area. A video shows the object descending. Investigators are looking for the cause of the fire but many are convinced the meteor was the cause. The problem is that such small meteors are not hot when they touch down. It appears to be coincidental timing and something else may have actually exploded in the house. https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/norcal-meteor-house-fire-17565952.php and https://www.kait8.com/2022/11/06/man-wonders-if-possible-meteorite-destroyed-home-i-heard-big-bang/

Gut-wrenching find

A bizarre-looking mass found on the beach in Cornwall turned out to have a rather icky origin. Experts think it was the remains of a whale's digestive tract. The whale had died and decomposed leaving the rotting part full of gas. The finder noted that it did not have a smell. https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/woman-discovers-part-whales-stomach-7788740

Lesson: Always use the parking brake

This is almost too hard to believe. It’s a rare thing in one’s life to be run over by a car. It’s obscene to be run over three times in one day, by your own car. A woman in Switzerland got out of her car when it started to roll downslope. She fell trying to stop it and was run over. When it hit another car, it careened back and ran over her again. Then it hit a curb and got her a third time. She’s hospitalized in serious condition.  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/04/driver-seriously-injured-after-being-run-over-three-times-by-own-car

A most unusual, delicate feline situation

A kitten with no internal or external sex organs left officials baffled after it was examined at a rescue center in the UK. The organs had failed to develop in the 15-week-old cat. The article didn’t mention if the cat would exhibit these features as it matured but that it was healthy and ready to be taken to a forever home. It can, also, pee just fine - I know you were all wondering. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-tyne-63549909

Glowing blue and pink skies

There were some weird auroras this past week that sent skywatchers wondering what the heck was up! First, a blue layer of light appeared in Lapland during a stunning light display. The blue glow stayed in place as the rest of the aurora moved in waving curtains as usual. Later speculation concluded that the blue glow was caused by the testing of a ballistic missile by Russia in the White Sea - as if that makes anyone feel any better. https://www.space.com/mysterious-blue-aurora-spotted-over-lapland-sweden

Pink auroras appeared in northern Norway in response to a high-energy solar storm that allowed solar particles to penetrate deep into the atmosphere. It only lasted about 2 minutes. Such colors are rare but are noticed on occasion. The pink color was associated in time with a breach in the magnetosphere so the solar wind interacted with nitrogen nearer to the earth’s surface. https://www.livescience.com/pink-auroras-solar-storm

Dazed and confused tree needs a nap

In the Irish National Botanical Gardens, the pear tree bloomed. The problem was it was months ahead of schedule. The tree normally blooms in spring but the drought stress it experienced messed up its normal timing. Scientists expect to see more such anomalies with climate change. The tree quickly gave up and will get back on track in spring but lost energy in the process. Other species that make this mistake may not be so lucky. https://www.irishtimes.com/environment/climate-crisis/2022/11/08/climate-changing-eight-times-faster-than-plants-can-adapt-says-botanist/

Thanks for reading!